The jaw is one of our most important joints. It is where we hold most of our stress, emotional and physical. And when you clench your jaw or grind your teeth, you trigger your sympathetic nervous system, your fight-or-flight response.” Which can, if it becomes a default state, cause a wide range of health issues. Until now, says Lynn Rae, “it has been hard to find the right person to help when you are struggling with jaw tension”.
“The muscles inside the mouth… you have to be very gentle… you are kind of listening with your fingers, having a conversation. The more gentle you are the more effect you can have. If you press too hard you can create tension. If you feel and wait and move a little bit, it kind of happens.” Lynn also gives her clients techniques to build upon her work in their daily life. “I teach improved posture and alignment. The tongue should sit on the roof of the mouth, for example, which relaxes the neck muscles, allows the face to lift, and improves posture.”
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Lynn trained as a sports remedial massage therapist, and as an instructor in both Pilates and the related Method Putkisto. Having found the jaw to be one of the most important joints in the body, she developed a cross-disciplinary therapy to focus on this area. Many clients come with tension or pain in their jaw and/or neck, with night-time teeth-grinding, with headaches, or with “a feeling of being locked”. Lynn also works with sufferers of Bell’s palsy, and with people who have had facial or oral injury or cancer.
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